Demartek Comments on Tech Support Phone Scam

Earlier today I was called from the telephone number 213-910-8228 (according to the Caller ID) from a person claiming
to be with Microsoft technical support. He asked for me by name and said that he was calling to help me because they
had reports of “corruptions” on my computer. He asked if I was at my computer and if so, he could direct me to
get help to fix these corruptions. I already knew about this scam, but decided to play along for a short while,
so I said that I recently ran a virus check and Windows updates (which I did). He said that it wasn’t a virus
but that it was a different type of corruption. Again, he asked if I was at my computer. I said that I was able
to take care of my own computer and didn’t need his help. He offered to help anyway. So I decided to politely
tell him that I knew about his company trying to take control of other people’s computers and hung up.

This type of telephone “tech support scam” has been occurring for several years and is well-documented.
Although sometimes these scammers claim to represent other companies, they frequently claim to represent
Microsoft, as there are many millions of computers around the world with Microsoft software.

Microsoft does not call people in this manner, has posted warnings about this type of scam and is actively
pursuing these people in conjunction with law enforcement worldwide. The following links provide additional
information on these scams and steps Microsoft is taking to help take down these scammers. The first of these
links provides a nice video summary of the situation.